Self-leveling ship s berth



(Nq Model.) 2 sheets-sheen 1.

W. T. MILLIGAN. SELF LBVELLING SHIPS BERTH.

MTNEEEEE..

` o thereto.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.V

WILLIAM T. MILLIGAN, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE OCEAN STEAMSHIP BERTH COMPANY, OF PORT- LAND, MAINE.

SELF-LEVEUNG SHIPS BERTI-i.

SPECIFICATION forming Vpart of Letters Patent No 376,542, dated January 17, 1888.

'Application liled April 11, 1887.

.To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM T. MILLIGAN, l

of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have kinvented a new and useful 5 Improvement in Self-Leveling Ships Berths,

of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to the construction of the hanging mechanism at the head yand foot of the berth, and it consists in mechanism Io whereby the movement of the berth about its longitudinal axis is rendered easy and steady with the least-amount of friction and wear, and also in mechanism whereby such motion is prevented altogether, so as tol enable the berth to be' locked either temporarily or permanently, as desired.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section showing the mode of hanging the berth at the head and foot. Figs. 2 and 3 are eleva- 2o tions of the ends of the berth, partly broken awayito show the construction of the hanging mechanism. Either form may be used for the head or foot of the berth;` or the hanging mechanism may be alike at both head and foot, if

thought best. Figs. 7 and 8 show modes of keeping a berth upon its bearings.v Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show details of the locking mechanism, and will be specifically referred to below.

Theberth now to be described is one the 3o longitudinal axis of which always remains at a fixed distance from the side wall of the state-v room or any other fixed object.

A is the piece which forms the head or foot of the berth. It is circular, and is provided 3 5 with circular lip or bearing c.

A A are the sides of the berth, which may be so constructed as to allow the berth to swing on across-axis, if thought best. Y

B is a casting consisting, mainly, of a-circu- 4o lar track, b, of, say, two inches less diameter outside than the inner diameter of the lip c. This casting also provides bearings, to which the various levers connected with thelocking mechanism maybe pivoted, thus taking all the strain off the state-room bulk-head and pro- Viding a bearing for these pivots which is very strong, although taking up but little eXtra room.

C is a carriage provided with wheels @,axled These wheels are of proper diameter and properly placed to keep the longitudinal Serial No. 234,326. (No model.)

axis of the berth coincident with the center of the circular track. The lip c of the head bears upon them, and they rest upon the circular track and serve to materially reduce the fric 55 tion between the head and track. This carriage also has rollers c',which are in diameter about the width of the track, and hence serve to brace the berth between the two bulk-headsand steady its movement.A The carriage may 6o be circular in form, as indicated in Fig. 2, or a portion of its lower part may be cut away and the place of the part omitted taken by a wire or cord, o2 c2, and a weighted segment, c3, which shall serve to keep the carriage on top 6 5 of the track.

As shown in Fig. 3, the weight c4L is attached to one corner of ak thin triangular piece of casting, and two wires, c2, each attached to one end of the carriage, are attached to the other 7o corners of the triangular segment. The segment is also provided with a wheel, which is sometimes convenient in steadying the berth, though not necessary. This segment c3 is sufiiciently thin to lie between the lip a, which is slightly cut away for the purpose, and the casting below the track, and below the lip it is made thick enough to allow the weight c4 to be attached thereto either by a screw or in some other suitable way. The segment-piece 8J is best provided with one or more wheels, c,

as shown, and also should have rollers c to do away with any lateral friction.

The upper part of the periphery of the circular piece or head A is provided with teeth ex- 8 5 tending about two-thirds around the head, one half of these'teeth being shaped, as shown, to engage with the pawl D, and the other halfto engage with the pawl D'. These pawls are pivoted to the casting at d, and are held tothe 9o teeth by suitable springs. Theyare provided with anglearms and rods or wires dd',whereby they may be controlled from the yokelever di. By means of this yoke-lever cl2, the bell-crank d3, and the rods d" the pawls are connected to the lever-handle E, by means of which the parts can be operated and the berth locked or unlocked at pleasure. The teeth, being located upon the top of t-he head, are out of the way,

and no movement given to the berth to raise Ioo itk can disengage the pawls and head. Moreover, the pawls, when so placed, keep the berth upon the bearings while locked. XVhen placed below, if one end of the berth be aceidentally lifted off the pawls, the pawls will be drawn in by their springs, so as to interlock with a lower pair of teeth than was contem plated, and hence, when the force tending to raise the berth is removed, the berth will not return to its former position and he supported upon the track or other support provided for the purpose, but upon the pawls.

The handle E is a lever fulcrumed at e upon a plate, e', attached to the side wall ofthe state` room, the handle being so placed that when it Y is vertical (see Figs. 1 and t) the berth will be locked, the pawls being engaged with the teeth in the periphery of the head, and when it is thrown over to one side, as indicated in Fig. 5, the pawls will be disengaged, and the handle,being then latehed by the latch F, will prevent the re-engagement of the pawls until the latch has been thrown, in the manner to be explained.

The handle locking and latching mechanism is as follows: The locking mechanism consists ota tongue, g, which slides in a box, y', and is held up by springs g2. (See Fig. 6, which shows this mechanism in section.) This tongue is located right over a cavity, c2, in the handle E, so that when it is forced down it will engage with the cavity and prevent any movement ot' the handle. The movement of the tongue may be controlled by a Yale or other lock, (indicated at G, )the boltg3 of which throws the tongue and contines it in the cavity of the handle until the lock-holt is withdrawn by turning the key. By means of this locking mechanism the berth may be permanently locked and used as if it were a stationary berth.

The latching mechanism is for temporary use, as when the passenger is getting in or out of the berth. lt consists of a latching-levcr, F, which is pivoted at It to the plate J, and rocks back and forth between the tongue-box g' and the back s ide ofthe plate J, which conceals the mechanism. (See Fig. (i.) Thelatch ing is performed by a shoulder, if, which, when the handle E is turned to one side so as to withdraw the pawls and allow the berth to swing, engages with it and prevents it from returning untilrelcased by the releasing mechanism, being held against it by the spring h.

The releasing mechanism consists of a lever, K, fulcrumcd at 7.1, which intcrlocks with and bears against the latch-lever F at k', its larther end being linked to the releasing-pull kt', which can be moved up and down in the slot j in the plate J. Vhen it is desired to release the handle and cause the pawls to engage with the head, the relcasing-pull lc'l is pulled down, thereby raising the bearing-point k ofthe levers K F and moving the shoulder h2 out of the way, so that the springs connected with the pawls may be allowed to act and cause the pawls to engage the teeth in the head of the berth, at the same time drawing the handle to Y lt is necessary in such a berth as is abovey described to axle the supportingwhecls to a common connection. Loose friction-rollers used to hold the berth upon the highest part of a circular track would invariably work down under the berth, and hence would become useless for the purpose ofholding up the berth. icing journaled to the carriage inh stead ol' to either the track or the head, the axles ot these rollers are not strained, as they would be if the rollers did not have a motion independent of either the head or the track.

The advantage ot using a circular carriage either made of a circular casting, as shown in Fig. 2, or a segmental casting with a bottomweighted piece, as showirin Fig. 3, is that, if any force tending to raise the berth oli' its bearings is applied to the berth while in motion, it will be prevented from moving the berth ontvolu center, the rollers underneath it keeping it from being raised, and hence the carriage will always be in the proper position for doing its work without the restriction of any springs, which always cause more or less friction. Moreover, if springs be used in a berth where the supportingwvhecls are all of the same size to limit the motion of a segmen tal carriage, there is always the danger that it the berth be lifted in any way while theship is rolling the carriage will be sprung back to its position on top of the track while the berth is still at an angle with the iloor of the stateroom, and when the berth falls upon the track again the upper middle portion of its bearingsuri'ace will not rest upon the middle wheel of the carriage, but upon one ot' the side wheels, so that when it rotates again the springs will sustain an unequal strain and the berth will not move easily or with regularity.

Instead of having one or more rollers or wheels between the track and the bearing-surface underneath the berth to keep the berth down, it is evident that in a berth having a circular head supported upon wheels one or more friction-rollers, Z, secured to studs in the bulk-head above the head (see Fig. 7) and bearing slightly on its outer edge, or a piece, m, about three inches wide projecting from the lower part of the head,extending around about one-third of the circumference of the head,and provided with a curved slot, m', struck from the center of the head and fitting over a friction-wheel, m2, attached to the bulkhead, (see Fig. 8,) willenable the berth to rotate and at the same time keep it upon its carriage; but in either of these cases the motion of the carriage must be limited in some way where the wheels are of the samediameter'to keep it upon the upper part of the track.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In a self-leveling ships berth, the combination of the berth having at each end a circular bearingsurface,two circular tracks, each located upon a suitable supportin close proximity to one of said bearing-surfaces, and two carriages of substantially the kind described, provided with supporting-wheels all of the same diameter, each carriage vresting upon its track and upholding one of said bearing-surfaces, aszand for the purposes set forth.

2. In a selfleveling ships berth, the com- I bination of thefberth having at each end a circular bearingsurface, two circular tracks, each located upon a bulk-head or other support in close proximity to said bearing-surface, and

two carriages of substantially the kind dcscribed, provided with supporting-wheels all of the same' diameter, each resting upon its track and upholding with its wheels one of said bearing-Surfaces, and means, substantially as above described, whereby when said berth is in use neither end of it can be lifted of its 4. A self-leveling ships berth adapted to rotate about its longitudinal axis, having at each end a circular bearing-surface, two circular tracks, each located upon a bulk-head in close proximity to said bearing-surface, and two carriages of substantially the kind described, each located upon its track and supporting one of said bearing-surfaces, the outer upper periphery of said bearing-surfaces being provided with teeth, in combination with pawls located above said bearing-surface and adapted to interlock therewith,and means,suby stantially as described, whereby said pawls shall be operated, all as set forth.

5. In combination with the berth-locking mechanism of a self-leveling ships berth, the

handle E, having a cavity, as described, a

' forth.

7. In a sellleveling ships berth, in combination with the handle E and the berth-locking mechanism, the latch-lever F, spring h3, releasing-lever K, and means, substantially as described, whereby said releasing-lever may be operated, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 6th day of April, A. D. 1887.

WM. T. MILLiGAN.

Witnesses:

GEORGE O. G. vCOALE, FRED B. ONEIL. 

